Understanding the relationships between urban development in its historical main phases and its respective ecological basics is the focus of this chapter. In the form of a journey through the history of urban development, the respective water, energy and food supply is described, as well as the types of transport and the disposal of waste and sewage, as far as information is available. The relationships are exemplified for each main phase of urban development using a single city. With industrialization and then electrification, urban functions expand significantly and the systems of infrastructure are expanded across the board. Finally, the chapter provides an outlook on the transition from the fossil to the post-fossil citypost-fossil city and describes the current activities of exemplary municipalities. The vision of developing sustainable cities is reserved for further chapters of the book.